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Jenny SuttonJenny graduated in 1988 with an LLB. (Hons.) from the University of Canterbury, New Zealand. She was admitted to the New Zealand Bar in 1988.
Jenny is an early stage investor in many ventures with global reach and is actively involved in a number of global initiatives. In addition she is a venture philanthropist and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures and commerce. Throughout her career Jenny has held a number of governance roles, primarily as Chair. Jenny was the Independent Chair of Hobson Wealth Partners (previously known as Macquarie Private Wealth NZ.) following a management buy-out, has held and holds a variety of governance roles and is a member of the Institute of Directors. In December 2021 she was named APAC Entrepreneur magazine's Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 (venture capital and private equity). In April 2022 Jenny was a recipient of the Women Empowerment Principles Leadership Awards 2021-2022 (presented in London at the Asia Europe Business Summit). Her background includes being a leading commercial and public law litigator in high-end and substantial commercial and public law cases covering a wide range of industries and areas of law from maritime, telecommunications, electricity, financial, insurance, oil, and she was well known for representing a major producer board for over a decade. She has previously headed a national intellectual property law team in a major national law firm. For a number of years Jenny was the NZ representative, Chair and director of various NZ, Australasian and International law and industry associations with a highly regarded reputation here and overseas for her work in the maritime and international insolvency arenas. In 2002 while at the Bar she chaired the government review of the oil spill response following the serious grounding of a container ship in Gisborne port. Jenny has spoken widely overseas through the US, Asia and Australasia on directors’ duties, governance and cross-border issues, been a senior litigation partner in a large national law firm and a barrister. She was a faculty member of the NZ law society’s litigation skills programme and other law training programmes for a number of years and chaired a number of national law conferences. Jenny is also a patron of the arts in NZ and Australia, a skilled negotiator and mediator, supporter of the University of Canterbury’s Centre for Entrepreneurship through its founding years, sponsor and funder of a variety of public and private initiatives and is a private investor in films made by New Zealand independent film-makers: - Gaylene Preston's documentary "My Year with Helen" which captured Helen Clark's 2016 campaign to be UN Secretary General. - Dustin Feneley and Desray Armstrong's film "Stray" which had its world premiere in April 2018 and has received many international awards. Jenny is based in Wellington and is often in Auckland, Sydney and London. |
Early stage investing |
APAC Entrepreneur magazine's Woman Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 (venture capital and private equity).
Direct investor in around 50 innovative ventures - see Greenlight Ventures NZ for portfolio Managing director and founder, Greenlight Ventures NZ Advisory Board Member, Sen Corporation (democratising space by using video to inform, educate and inspire.) Patron of SpacebaseNZ (2019-2022) Member: Angel List Advisory Board - Level Two, Parnell (deep-tech innovation hub) (2018-2020) |
Sponsorship
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Backer/sponsor of Policy Local (2019 and 2022) and Policy 2020.
Inaugural Foundation Partner of the Impact Awards (2019-2022). Founding principal sponsor of and an advisor to AmbitionNZ Sponsor (2016) of the 7x7 Ideas Forum Lifetime patron: Arts Foundation NZ Founding Governor: FoNZA, AGNSW, Sydney Fellow: AGNSW, Sydney Inaugural Cornerstone Partner, Te Papa Foundation Member: Philanthropy NZ Supporter of various charities Collection: NZ contemporary art |